With telework and confinements, the question of occupational health has arisen, now listed as a fundamental right according to the ILO.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) has elevated occupational health and safety to the rank offundamental rightfor workers around the world, the ILO said on Twitter on Friday. “The right to a safe and healthy working environment is now part of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work“, indicated the Geneva organization on the social network.
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This declaration, adopted in 1998, has so far included four categories of rights: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labor and the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. The right to health and safety at work will be added to the list thanks to the favorable vote on Friday by the International Labor Conference (ILC), which acts as the international labor parliament.
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Bind member states of the organization
Concretely, the fact of enshrining this new principle in the declaration of fundamental rights of the ILO will impose a series of constraints on the Member States of the organization. The declaration indeed states:clearly“that the rights it enshrines”are universal and apply to all peoples and all States, regardless of their level of development», according to the ILO.
«This commitment is reinforced by a monitoring procedure“, which results in the regular sending of reports giving an account of the progress and the obstacles of each country with regard to these fundamental rights, specifies the organization. The inclusion of health and safety at work in the Declaration of Fundamental Rights was a long-standing demand of trade unions around the world.
«This change made by the ILC is the first extension of basic human rights for workers in a quarter of a century“, rejoiced the International Trade Union Confederation in a press release whose title salutes a “great progress». «More than three million workers die each year because of their work, and tens of millions more are injured on the job or encounter health problemsadded the ITUC. The vote of the CIT “will begin to reverse this deadly trend“hoped the unions by way of conclusion.
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